Among al-Qaeda's goals is for other countries to stop influencing Muslim countries, and for a new Islamic caliphate to be made. There have been reports that al-Qaeda believes that a Christian–Jewish alliance is conspiring to destroy Islam,[8] (largely embodied in Israel–United States relations), and that the killing of bystanders and civilians is religiously justified in jihad.

There have been guesses that there are 500-1,000 operatives in Afghanistan and around 5,000 worldwide. However, there is no confirmation of this.

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In June 2001, al-Qaeda and Egyptian Islamic Jihad, which had been associated with each other for many years, merged into 'Qaeda al-Jihad'.[9]

"...the members of Islamic Jihad and its guiding figure, Ayman al-Zawahiri, have provided the backbone of [al-Quaeda's] leadership. According to officials in the C.I.A. and the F.B.I., Zawahiri has been responsible for much of the planning of the terrorist operations against the United States".[9]

Senior al-Qaeda leader Abu Yahya al-Libi was killed in a drone strike on 4 June 2012.[10] He ranked second to Ayman al-Zawahiri at the time. The strike was carried out in the northwest tribal area of Waziristan. The Pakistan Government has protested to the U.S. about the strike.[10]

↑Gunaratna 2002, pp. 95–96. "Al-Qaeda's global network, as we know it today, was created while it was based in Khartoum, from December 1991 till May 1996. To coordinate its overt and covert operations as Al-Qaeda's ambitions and resources increased, it developed a decentralised, regional structure. [...] As a global multinational, Al-Qaeda makes its constituent nationalities and ethnic groups, of which there are several dozen, responsible for a particular geographic region. Although its modus operandi is cellular, familial relationships play a key role."
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